Years Of Street Closures Begin Near SF Union Square Construction

A pedestrian carries shopping bags as he walks through Union Square in San Francisco. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – Most would agree that navigating San Francisco’s busy Union Square has always been a challenge – but it is about to get much worse, with some major work beginning Monday morning.

Construction related to the Central Subway project is going to force the closure of two blocks of Stockton Street between Ellis and Geary and the re-striping of one block of Grant Street above Market Street to accommodate two way traffic.

Stockton Street could be closed for up to five years for work on the $1.6 billion project, which will create a new branch of Muni’s T-Third line to connect the city’s South of Market neighborhood to Chinatown.

KCBS’ Jeffrey Schaub Reports:

The closure will last until 2017, when construction on the Union Square portion of the project is expected to be completed, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesman Paul Rose said.

Sidewalks will remain open on Stockton Street during the closure, and the road will reopen each year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day during a holiday moratorium on construction in the area.

The subway, which will include stops at Moscone Center, Union Square and Chinatown, is expected to open to the public in 2019.

The SFMTA also anticipates closing the Ellis Street entrance to the Powell Street Muni Metro/BART station next month because of the construction.

Reader: Do you know the name and phone number of the person who we need to complain to and to get what I am requesting looked at? Please reply with that info? I am so sick and tired of all this work being done on SF streets with no public forum to notify us what streets to avoid. It seems like all the main arteries of town, Gough, Mission, Valencia, Market, Franklin, Geary, just pick one and there is a construction project on it. Plus there is no logic to it. Franklin these past 6 months has had 2-3 projects all happening at the same time. Why can’t the city anticipate the fact if you clog up the main South to North street locals use, at least try to stagger multiple projects so don’t have 2-3 huge closures over just 2 miles of roadway when you could stagger them over 12 months. Van Ness SUCKS with all the lights so Franklin and Gough are it for most people. Finally, why is there NO website telling locals where work is being done? We pay MASSIVE amounts of taxes due to high property values and as a property owner in San Francisco, I DESERVE TO KNOW where work is being done so I can avoid these huge traffic jams. If you are reading this and know the name of the person or city department to complain to, please reply and leave this info. I plan to start a huge campaign against the city to get them to tell its citizens about road work. Its 2016 and we all know they could do this if they wanted to.